(1699 - 1743) of Picton Castle, Pemb., e. s. of Sir John Philipps; Pembroke Oxf. 1720; L.Inn 1721; MP 1726 - 43; suc. fa. 1737 as 5th Bt.; unm.
1738 - 41 Naples, Rome (Jan. 1738), Turin, Florence (1740), Rome (1740), Bologna (May 1741), Florence (Jun. - Sep.), Turin (Sep.)
This unhappy traveller went abroad for his health. By the time he reached Rome Sir Erasmus had already been to Naples, Baiae and Aix, but 'all to no purpose'. Having once loved a lady who then married another 'he dragg'd about a miserable life of Pain and Anguish for some time, which at last settled in a Constant pain in his breast ... ever since, tho' tis some years ago'.1 Lady Pomfret saw him in Florence in 1740,2 and he was staying in Rome that year.3 He was in Bologna in May 1741,4 and came under Horace Mann's observation in Florence in June, looking ill, 'with some pain in his back; he will have no advice till he grows worse and then will call Cocchi'. He recovered but remained aloof, having only Martin, a painter (presumably Charles Martin), as his companion; by September Mann said he was 'extreme lean' and 'goes nowhere'.5 Philipps left Florence in September for Turin.6
1. Macnaghten, 3 (S. Crisp, 18 Apr. 1739). 2. Pomfret Corr., 2:116. 3. AVR sa, S.Lorenzo in Lucina. 4. Pomfret Corr., 2:176. 5. Wal.Corr., 17:67, 70, 81, 121; 13:202. 6. Ibid., 17:138. Spence Letters, 421.